A blog which is dedicated to the use of Traditional (Aristotelian/Thomistic) moral reasoning in the analysis of current
events. Readers are challenged to reject the Hegelian Dialectic and
go beyond the customary Left/Right, Liberal/Conservative One--Dimensional Divide.
This site is not-for-profit. The information contained here-in is for educational and personal enrichment purposes only. Please generously share all material with others.
--Dr. J. P. Hubert

Harman assumes the post currently held by Lee Hamilton who co-chaired (with Thomas Keane) the now discredited 911 Commission Investigation and Report of the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon in September of 2001.

It is unclear how Harman's new position at the Wilson Center might be used in service of AIPAC in particular and the Zionist cause of creating a Greater Israel in general. Stay tuned...

Rep. Jane Harman, a blue-dog Democrat from California, announced today she will resign from office, to head the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.
Harman’s pro-business, anti-liberty stance is world-renowned. She introduced HR 1955, the Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act of 2007, otherwise known at the Thought Crimes bill.

In 2005, she voted to make the Un-PATRIOT Act permanent, but in 2010 opposed some provisions of the bill.

In addition to serving on the Subcommittee on Energy and Environment and Subcommittee on Health, she also Chairs the Homeland Security Subcommittee on Intelligence, Information Sharing and Terrorism Risk Assessment.

AIPAC controversy

In October 2006, Time magazine, quoting anonymous sources, asserted that an FBI and US Department of Justice investigation of Harman was underway. The magazine alleged that Harman had agreed to lobby the Department of Justice to reduce espionage charges against Steve J. Rosen and Keith Weissman, two officials at the American Israeli Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). In exchange, Time said there was a quid pro quo in which AIPAC would lobby then-House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi to appoint Harman as chair of the House Intelligence Committee if the Democrats captured the House after the 2006 elections. Harman, the FBI, the Justice Department and Pelosi’s office have all denied knowledge of or involvement with any investigation. AIPAC denied it had engaged in a quid pro quo with Harman. “AIPAC would never engage in a quid pro quo in relation to a federal investigation or any federal matter and the notion that it would do so is preposterous,” a spokesperson said at the time.

In April 2009, CQ Politics, also quoting anonymous sources, said Harman had been captured on a National Security Agency wiretap prior to the 2006 elections, telling an “Israeli agent” that she would “waddle into” lobbying the Department of Justice on the AIPAC case. Harman ended the phone call, according to CQ, by saying, “This conversation doesn’t exist.” Harman denied the allegations, saying:

“These claims are an outrageous and recycled canard, and have no basis in fact. I never engaged in any such activity. Those who are peddling these false accusations should be ashamed of themselves.” According to CQ, then-Attorney General Alberto Gonzales pressed CIA Director Porter Goss to drop the agency’s investigation of Harman, because he wanted Harman’s support during the NSA warrantless surveillance controversy, about to break in The New York Times. Harman called The New York Times and urged them not to publish details on the program. Gonzales and Goss declined to comment.

A strong supporter of the military, she rejects the Fourth Amendment to the US Constitution, believing “authorities” should read mail and email, tap phones, and conduct random searches without a warrant, backing the Bush regime while lobbying the New York Times not to run the story in 2004.

Armenian Genocide

Harman was a co-sponsor of the Armenian Genocide recognition resolution bill in 2007. However, while still cosponsoring the bill, she wrote a letter to House Foreign Relations Committee Chair Tom Lantos urging him to withdraw the bill. Her argument was that while the genocide deserves recognition, it was not a good time to embarrass Turkey given that country’s role in moderating extremism in the Middle East.

Republican congressional candidate Mattie Fein has jumped on a rumor that the spouse of her Democratic rival, South Bay Rep. Jane Harman, is considering whether to purchase Newsweek magazine.

Stereo industry entrepreneur Sidney Harman is among the many suitors who have shown interest in buying the political weekly magazine since it was put up for sale by The Washington Post Co., according to a blog item posted earlier this month on Politico.

Fein claims the Harmans would try to kill stories that were unflattering to the congresswoman or the Democratic Party. She cited a similar instance in 2004, when Jane Harman urged the New York Times not to publish a story about the National Security Agency's domestic eavesdropping program.

If Harman International acquires Newsweek, Congresswoman Jane Harman would be in the catbird's seat controlling the news magazine's reporting or editorializing because she owns millions of dollars of its stock," Fein wrote in an open letter delivered last week to Newsweek's managing editor, Jon Meacham. "That would bode ill for your reporters and editors," Fein wrote "Harman is an ardent foe of freedom of the press."...

Editor's NOTE:

Since the above piece, the Harman's completed the purchase of Newsweek.

Key Components of Each Moral Act

all "3" must be licit in order for the moral act to be permissible (just).

The reigning (immoral) philosophy in the so-called "developed West" is Utilitarianism in which the "ends" desired dictate the use of any "means" available in the accomplishment of a given goal i.e. "the ends justify the means." This by the way was the calculus the Nazi's embraced!

The Nature of Morality as Philosophy

Perhaps the best way to conceptualize traditional morality is to view it as a systematic way of answering questions which ask what "ought" to be done from the perspective of right and wrong. Moral philosophy assumes therefore that notions of right and wrong, good and evil are real that is; exist, both independent of the "knower" and irrespective of time and place.

Furthermore, it claims that these moral absolutes or immutable moral norms are understandable that is, knowable by rational man as part of the natural (moral) law.

From a scholastic (Aristotelian/Thomistic) perspective "ought" questions always involve "3" elements; the object rationally chosen or proximate end, also referred to as means" the intent or further end and the circumstances.

In scholastic moral philosophy what ought to be done is strongly grounded in the nature of being that is to say the "ought" is based on the "is." From a practical perspective this means that the ought is circumscribed by the immutability of human nature that is, bounded by a fixed human anthropology. The essence of our human being then is presumed to be unchanging not evolving and is not relative to time or place. The Enlightenment needless to say wrecked havoc with this principle especially the post-Enlightenment philosophy of Utilitarianism and the post-modern tendencies toward subjectivism and moral relativism.

Finally, most decisions of any consequence made by individuals or groups have at least a moral component even if they are not primarily or fundamentally moral questions. For example, questions of public policy always involve morality since they of necessity ask what "ought" to be done--from the perspective of right and wrong--whether explicit or implied. Whenever we ask what ought we to do, not simply what can we do or is it possible to do; we have entered the realm of moral philosophy.

This site attempts to analyze current events from a moral perspective utilizing scholastic, specifically; Aristotelian/Thomistic moral reasoning.

Neomodernism Rejected

Much of Modern Philosophy Undermines the Genuine Goal of Humanity

NEO-MODERNISM: The Scourge of Western Culture

Noteworthy Quotes

"We have never had a free press. We have deluded ourselves. In the West we now have privatized censorship. There are hundreds of examples."

--Julian Assange

"Capitol Hill is Israeli Occupied Territory."

--Patrick J. Buchanan 6/15/90

“What George Orwell wrote about in 1984 has come true. What Eisenhower warned us about concerning the ‘military-industrial complex’ has come true...War is a permanent feature of our societal landscape, so much so that no one notices it anymore.”

Why do we spend so much on war when we supposedly can’t find the money to help the unemployed?”

--Former Congressman Alan Grayson

"War is a racket. It is the only one international in scope. It is the only one in which the profits are reckoned in dollars and the losses in lives."

--Major General Smedley Butler

"It's time to rid the world of Nuclear Weapons"

--Desmond Tutu

"Every human being has by virtue of their humanity a claim on the right to life, shelter, sustinance, work, and medical care since they all represent "goods" the absence of which prevent the full realization of each person's humanity."

--Dr. John P. Hubert

"And so, my fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country."

--John F. Kennedy Inaugural Address

"Millions of people understand that both the Democrats and Republicans will not represent their interests in Congress."

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